Posts Tagged ‘pirates’

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is one of the most anticipated movies of 2010. Based on wildly popular Prince of Persia video game the movie tells the story of Dastan, a poor street orphan in 6th century Persia. Dastan is adopted by the king of Persia after he displays courage in a fight which the king sees. The king doesn’t want his own children fighting over his throne so he adopts Dastan to take over the throne after him since he proved to the King that he is courageous and has a good heart.  Dastan finds a friend and companion in the princess Tamina and they go on an adventure together to steal a special prize, the Sands of Time, from an evil Persian nobleman named Nizam.  The Sands of Time was given to humans by the gods and with it a human can control time, so Dastan and Tamina are determined to get it for the King. In the movie version of Prince of Persia Dastan will be played by Hollywood favorite Jake Gyllenhaal. Tamina will be played by Bond girl Gemma Arterton and the evil Nizam will be played by legendary actor Ben Kingsley.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will be produced by veteran Hollywood producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Jerry first became interested in the Prince of Persia project after the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the Curse of the Black Pearl, turned out to be much more successful than anyone had thought it would be.  Studio execs at Disney realized that there was a huge market for period action movies and started development to bring Prince of Persia to the big screen.  The Prince of Persia video game is one of the most successful video game franchises in history and the storyline of the poor street boy Dastan raised to unbelievable wealth as the King of Persia’s adopted son is a great premise for an action movie so it seemed like a perfect fit for the studio.  The actual filming of the movie didn’t take place until 2008 though because the studio was scrambling to finish the second and third Pirates of the Caribbean movies.  Originally no sequels to the Pirates of the Caribbean movie had been planned but after the wild success of the first film Disney quickly ordered two more to cash in on audience’s love for the characters and desire to see more of them.

Because the Prince of Persia movie is based on a video game there are plenty more storylines available if Disney again decides at the last minute to create sequels to the movie based on box office success. But, currently there are no sequels being planned for the Prince of Persia . However, if audiences love The Sands of Time as much as they loved Curse of the Black Pearl Disney may once again be working overtime to produce scripts and film sequels to keep fans happy and to keep the storyline of the Prince of Persia going.

Ahoy Matey’s! Pirates are Perennial Halloween Favorites

Even before Captain Jack Sparrow came on the scene dressing up as a pirate for Halloween has been popular. Halloween is all about dressing up as someone else for a night, getting to be the kind of person you’d want to be if things like era, education, money and so on weren’t factors. It’s a night of fantasy. People fantasize about being pirates because of the romantic image that has evolved of pirates. Wearing ruffled shirts and long swash bucking coats, breeches,  or denim sailor pants and buckled shoes and riding the open waves  seems like a wonderful carefree existence to many people.

This romantic image of pirates  has been around for centuries. Back in 1684 a book called The Buccaneers of America laid the groundwork for the image of pirates that still exists today. This best selling book portrayed pirates as daring rebels, fierce fighters, and underdogs. They were considered to be a type of Robin Hood of the sea, taking from the rich in order to ensure their own survival. The so-called Golden Age of pirates was between 1690 and the early 1700s and people today still read about the exploits of pirates who were active during that period with keen interest. Blackbeard, one of the most famous pirates of all time, has been the prototype for pirates in books, TV shows and movie throughout history. It could be argued that Geoffrey’s Rush Captain Barbossa character in the Pirates of the Caribbean films is based on Blackbeard too.

The wildly successful Pirates of the Caribbean films made modern audiences fall in love with the pirate aesthetic all over again and Captain Jack Sparrow costumes, William Turner costumes and Elizabeth Turner costumes are all popular Halloween costumes. The matted, snarled, dreadlocked wig of Captain Jack and his trademark kohl eyeliner ringed eyes have given the pirate costume a modern neo-tribal twist that people love. But there are other interpretations of pirate costumes  as well. Skull and crossbone flags, tri-corner hats, white poet shirts, eye patches and bandanas are all popular pirate costume accessories. For women who want to dress as pirates an off the shoulder peasant blouse and peasant skirt or pantaloons and knee high boots are essential pirate wear, along with lots of gold coin jewelry.  For real pirates gold and gold coin jewelry wasn’t just a fashion statement, it was a way for them to protect their stolen treasure. Wearing it was the only way they had to make sure that someone didn’t steal their stolen treasure from them.

Why are pirates so consistently popular? It’s because they represent the best parts of Halloween and the yearning that everyone has for freedom from society’s rules. On some level everyone dreams of cutting loose from society, doing exactly what they want and not caring at all what other people think and say. Pirates live by their own rules, rebel against society, and do exactly what makes them happy. That’s why pirates will always be popular pirate costumes.